[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #523 Sad and Lonely

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Op maandag 2 juli 2018 23:45 schreef clumsy_clown het volgende:

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Is het niet altijd al zo geweest dat vrouwen doorgaans socialer en linkers stemmen?

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op maandag 02-07-2018 om 23:48:02 Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, to the @WhiteHouse! https://t.co/Zn6ZLM0tzy reageer retweet

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Op maandag 2 juli 2018 23:49 schreef Houtenbeen het volgende:

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op maandag 02-07-2018 om 23:48:02 Today, it was my great honor to welcome Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, to the @WhiteHouse! https://t.co/Zn6ZLM0tzy reageer retweet

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Op maandag 2 juli 2018 23:56 schreef Kijkertje het volgende:

WATCH: President Trump meets with Netherlands Prime Minister

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Op maandag 2 juli 2018 23:45 schreef clumsy_clown het volgende:

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Is het niet altijd al zo geweest dat vrouwen doorgaans socialer en linkers stemmen?

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Op dinsdag 3 juli 2018 00:04 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Maandag dus de nominatie voor SCOTUS! En Rutte die VVD stokpaardjes afvuurt, maar het denk ik wel prima deed daar.

En ook, Trump over een EU handelsovereenkomst: "... and if we don't it will be positive also." Rutte: "*grijns* No!"

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Op dinsdag 3 juli 2018 00:14 schreef Tijger_m het volgende:

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Goh, hadden ze ook zo'n haast toen Obama een rechter voordroeg? Of was het toen iets met een verkiezing of zo?

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US defence secretary intervenes in UK military budget row

The US defence secretary, James Mattis, has made a surprise intervention in the row over UK defence spending by warning France could replace the UK as Washington’s closest military ally in Europe.

In a leaked letter to the British defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, Mattis expressed concern the UK’s military power was at risk of erosion and compared the UK unfavourably with France, which Mattis pointed out had committed to significant increases in defence spending.

“As global actors, France and the US have concluded that now is the time to significantly increase our investment in defense. Other allies are following suit,” he said.

“It is in the best interest of both our nations for the UK to remain the US partner of choice.”

The letter was sent to Williamson on 12 June, three days after a visit by Mattis to London. Williamson would be unlikely to have leaked it without first seeking approval from his American counterpart.

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Op dinsdag 3 juli 2018 00:15 schreef ExtraWaskracht het volgende:

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Het Witte Huis had denk ik betrekkelijk snel een kandidaat?

Ik begrijp je frustratie, maar je overtuigt niemand met random boze onzin. Deze frustratie wordt ook gedeeld door heel veel democrats ... dus dat gaat zeker een staart krijgen.

Ik ben benieuwd naar wat voor staart, want dat kan best escaleren... Stel de dems krijgen congress ooit weer terug + presidentschap en vergroten de supreme court naar 11 zetels om het teniet te doen. Daarna gaan de republikeinen dat precedent ook weer misbruiken voor hun doeleinden...

Beter zou het zijn om het systeem te verbeteren imo...

Bijvoorbeeld dat elke supreme court justice een nieuwe nomineert. Dat gaat naar het Huis, waar 1/3e naar boven afgerond afvalt doormiddel van anonieme approval vote. Dat gaat dan naar de senaat die doormiddel van anonieme approval vote 2 doorstuurt naar de president die er 1 kiest. Waarbij er bij beide iig x percentage approval nodig is.

twitter:

SethAbramson twitterde op dinsdag 03-07-2018 om 02:03:29 I have this terrible fear Mueller will wrap up his investigation and we'll discover that all Trump did is* launder hundreds of millions of dollars* accept hundreds of millions in bribes* conspire to blackmail the FBI into reopening Clinton's case* aid and abet Russian crimes reageer retweet

twitter:

kylegriffin1 twitterde op dinsdag 03-07-2018 om 02:30:00 Legal experts tell McClatchy that it's likely Mueller's investigators, who are looking at the NRA's funding as part of the Russia probe, secretly gained access to the NRA's tax returns from the IRS.https://t.co/6BcyR21oXm reageer retweet

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For months, the National Rifle Association has had a stock answer to queries about an investigation into whether Russian money was funneled to the gun rights group to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The NRA, which spent $30 million-plus backing Trump’s bid, has heard nothing from the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, spokesman Andrew Arulanandam reiterated in an email the other day.

Legal experts, though, say there’s an easy explanation for that. They say it would be routine for Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators, who are looking at the NRA’s funding as part of a broader inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, to secretly gain access to the NRA’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.

On the returns, the group was required to identify its so-called “dark money” donors -- companies and wealthy individuals who financed $21 million of the group’s publicly disclosed pro-Trump spending, as well as its multimillion-dollar efforts to heighten voter turnout. The NRA’s nonprofit status allows it to shield those donors’ names from the public, but not the IRS.

A central question for Mueller’s office is whether any of the confidential donors’ names hold clues that could enable investigators to trace a donation camouflaged to hide its Russian origins – such as a shell company that might be the end point in a chain of offshore transactions.

It is illegal for foreign funds to be spent to influence U.S. elections.

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

The NRA, a flashpoint for controversy given its opposition to gun control legislation, has been resolute about protecting the anonymity of most of its donors to its lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action. However, the institute has trumpeted pledges by some gun makers, such as Sturm, Ruger and Co.'s August 2016 commitment of $2 from each gun sale, with a goal to raise $4 million.

Where potential financial crimes are involved, neither the NRA nor any other group can protect the identities of large dark-money donors from investigators, even if the fortress-like IRS holds the records. Investigators need only show “a reasonable cause to believe” that the information sought is relevant to a federal crime – a lower threshold than that required for a search warrant.

FBI and IRS agents collaborating on follow-the-money investigations commonly use “secret subpoenas, tax orders and other investigative techniques to collect an extraordinary amount of financial information without their target even knowing that the investigation exists,” said one former senior federal prosecutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitive relationships with investigators.

Michael Zeldin, a former senior Justice Department official who oversaw money-laundering investigations, said that “it would be basic blocking and tackling for the prosecutors to seek all relevant tax returns."

If the tax filings identified a donor as a shell company, he said, the next step would be to “determine how difficult it will be to trace” the true source of the money.

Torshin’s enthusiastic overtures to the NRA energized a number of the group's leaders to visit Russia. During a

2013 trip, Torshin introduced Keene and conservative operative Paul Erickson to his group, the Right to Bear Arms, and Maria Butina, a protégé who headed the group. Butina soon enrolled a graduate student in the United States, where she was awarded lifetime membership in the NRA and became a fixture at the group's meetings.

In 2015, the Russians lavishly wined and dined a second NRA delegation that included high-dollar NRA fundraiser, Joe Gregory, and Pete Brownell, the head of a major U.S. firearms firm who later became the NRA’s president.

A meeting between the second delegation and Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, who oversaw Russia’s defense and firearms industries, has drawn sharp criticism from Kremlin analysts because Rogozin had been placed under U.S. sanctions.

Ex-CIA Russia specialist Hall said he cannot fathom what the NRA officials hoped to obtain from Russia; Putin opposes arming his citizenry with more than hunting rifles.

Russia, though, may have had an agenda for its gun makers.

The NRA visit included a tour of the Russian firearms manufacturer Orsis, which also was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2014, perhaps to highlight Moscow’s hopes that victory by the right candidate could bring those curbs to an end.

Carpenter, the former Obama administration official, said Moscow had also sought to lift earlier limits on Russian gun imports from companies including the iconic Kalashnikov. But easing the restrictions “obviously wasn't in the interest of U.S. gun manufacturers,” he said.

“So Russia turned to the NRA and other gun enthusiasts to try to promote the issue,” he said. “At the time, Dmitry Rogozin was overseeing this effort.”

The Torshin-led mating dance between Moscow and the NRA culminated at the NRA’s convention in Louisville in late May 2016, when Trump received an early endorsement from the pro-gun goliath.

Torshin tried unsuccessfully that week to arrange a personal meeting with Trump, but he did cadge a short chat with Donald Trump Jr., an avid hunter. Trump Jr.’s lawyer told McClatchy it was mostly just “small talk” about guns.

During that same time span, Erickson and Torshin each floated proposals with Trump campaign officials for a pre-election meeting between Putin and Trump, an idea that did not gain traction.

After the election, Torshin came to Washington in February 2017 to attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast, an event where he’d been a regular for more than a half dozen years, Erickson said.

Torshin also was feted at a four-hour Capitol Hill dinner organized by George O’Neill Jr. a Rockefeller heir. Attendees included Erickson and Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, considered by some analysts to be Putin’s best friend in Washington.

Rohrabacher, in a phone interview last year, said that conservative American gun rights groups no longer look at Russia with Cold War angst, but rather “in friendly terms.” He remembered meeting Torshin in Moscow a few years earlier, calling him a “mover and shaker.”

Torshin’s 2017 visit to the U.S. would be his last for awhile. The sanctions bar him from entering the United States.